Broken Chains, Forgotten Friends
by AstonishedOwl
Summary: [And they all slowly forget the one who saved them]. Oneshots from the PoVs of KH1 characters, as Sora’s memories are being rechained.
1. IntroRiku

**A/N **Well, for those who have read this before, you'll notice a slight change in the chapter order, yes? That's because I've decided to make this the first chapter, and to rearrange the chapter order so that it will go alphabetically. Sorry for the confusion, but I think it will flow better like this. And thanks to i AM the random idiot for reminding me of a cutscene between Riku and DiZ, I think on the 5th Day, where Riku mentioned that he was beginning to remember Sora.

Broken Chains, Forgotten Friends

_Summary: And they all slowly forget the one who saved them. Oneshots from the PoVs of KH1 characters, as Sora's memories are being rechained._

_Chapter: Intro/Riku_

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

The nearly-empty white room never changed, its odd occupants making sure that the location was kept safe, that no outside intruders would ever find it. And all for the boy, sleeping peacefully, suspended inside a bud-shaped pod.

For he was one of the most important beings in the worlds, and especially so for the three that kept watch over him.

One, a red-caped man, with bitter memories of betrayal, and the selfish longing for revenge.

Another, a girl pale enough to seem invisible, who would pour over her drawings and her memories of the one boy who had accepted her unconditionally.

And the last, who had been a brother to the boy, who had betrayed him and hurt him and had finally given up all that he had so that the boy might make the worlds safe again.

And it was this one, who had fallen into darkness and fought to find the light, that was indifferently gazing through the translucent glass.

"Who is this?"

DiZ frowned. "You do not remember him?"

Riku looked startled. "Huh? But I've never met him before."

DiZ didn't move for another moment, before his visible amber eye glanced towards the corner where Namine sat. Her eyes were hidden, but she was listening, and knew what had happened.

One hand was gripping the sketchbook tightly enough to turn her knuckles white, while the other was hanging limply by her side, not bothering to pick up the pencil as it clattered to the ground.

"Hm. It is understandable, you have been busy with my assignment, so it is natural that it would…._slip your mind._" Namine gave a small flinch, and the man's lips twitched up in a tiny, pitiless smile.

He slowly turned back towards Riku, who was beginning to look suspicious. "Cut with the chase. Who is this kid?"

"He is…someone that we have come across. When we found him, his heart had been torn asunder, chained down by false memories. Luckily, we have our kind, benevolent Namine, so she agreed to help restore his memories. After all, his heart holds the Keyblade, and a broken Keyblade Master is nothing at all, don't you see?"

Tearing his concerned gaze from the still-motionless Namine, Riku gave the man a malevolent look. "…Whatever. I'm gonna go and look for this Roxas you want me to find."

Riku exited the white room, and DiZ briskly walked over to where the memory witch still sat, staring at the picture she had drawn.

"Is this part of the process?"

"…Yeah. I can't work on his memories if he doesn't sleep peacefully… And his memories of his friends waiting for him won't let him…."

"I see. So you must erase them from his memories, and then delete him from theirs. You truly are brilliant, Namine." With a small chuckle, he too left the area, leaving her with the sleeping boy in the silent room.

She didn't move for a long time, until her hand finally stirred, and she traced her fingertips over a picture that had once been of three friends. Her mind could still see the absent outline of one of the figures, and she carefully brushed away the rough bits of eraser that remained. Twin drops of water blurred the faces of the redhead and the taller, silver-haired figure, and she quietly closed the sketchbook.

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

**P.S**. If you wanted to review this chapter, but you already reviewed chapter 1, go to chapter 5. That was the original chapter for this, anyhow. Confusing? Certainly. But that's how I am.


	2. Aerith

_Broken Chains, Forgotten Friends_

_Chapter: Aerith_

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

A flower girl in light pink sat among the small blooms that couragously tried to grow outside the ruins of Hollow Bastion. Her bright green eyes were troubled as she gazed down at the deep blue flowers, trying to capture a memory that slipped away when she got too close to it.

_Her first glimpse of the legendary Keyblade Master made tears come to her eyes, as she only saw an exhausted boy, slung over the shoulder of the SeeD, still blissfully unaware of the heavy responsibility upon his shoulders – _

_Her young friend looked up at her, and her heart jumped when she thought she saw something familiar in that incredibly spiky hair and those bottomless blue eyes that could hide loneliness down where no one would see it – _

_He grinned at her, yelling out a word of thanks for the healing spell, but she hadn't missed that pained look in his eyes, a memory of his mother kissing his cuts to make them all better – _

_She smoothed the hair on her friend's forehead, smiling sadly as the boy frowned in his dreams, the nightmares that plagued him during his waking hours refusing to leave him even when he slept – _

Days later, Aerith came out to the flower patch, only to find that all of the gentle flowers had been trampled, worn down by the dispassionate footsteps of Time.

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

**A/N**

I really like Aerith, because I just imagine her trying to take care of Sora, like a mother (Advent Children, anyone?). Everyone together now: awww. For the second scene, I was trying to put a little Cloud in there (but FAILED!!). And the ending was supposed to be "footsteps of the Heartless", but that doesn't have anything to do with rechaining memories, right? Well, tell me which you like better, please.


	3. Leon

_Broken Chains, Forgotten Friends_

_Chapter: Leon_

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

Silent, as always, Leon stared up at gigantic symbol in front of him, the blues and greens and reds forming a sickly entrance for his World's heart. This was a very important place, and needed to be protected.

And yet…

Leon frowned at the large stain on the floor as he tried to remember that there was another reason why this spot was important to him. Why this place felt like sadness, and friendship and promise.

_A boy, his laugh and grin fading away into absolute terror as the grim-faced man slowly raised his dripping head--_

_The same kid, along with Yuffie, trying to see how many pebbles they could flick at Leon before he started throwing things--_

_A spiky-haired teenager falling flat on his face after tripping on his own shoes, as the stoic man in front of him raised a hand to cover his twitching mouth--_

_The young hero, raising his sword in victory, before the SeeD whacked him on the head to teach him to wait more than three seconds before beginning to celebrate--_

_The tall warrior looking very relaxed as he calmly positioned a hand on the furious duck's skull, placing his other hand on the equally enraged boy's forehead, keeping them from charging at each other--_

_His heart twinging with sadness as he watched the young boy and his redheaded friend make a hopeful promise to each other--_

We may never meet again, but we'll never forget ea—

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

**A/N**

Just so you know, the first memory involves the event when (in my head) Sora pushed Leon into the water of the Waterway. The very dirty, very gross water. So you can understand what doom awaits Sora, yes?


	4. Phil

_Broken Chains, Forgotten Friends_

_Chapter: Phil_

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

Phil studied at the huge board in front of him, his forehead furrowing.

Why didn't the figures even out? He knew how to organize a tournament – he made a living out of it – but there was something wrong with the number of contestants entered.

With a sudden exclamation, he found the offending article, and pulled it from the board. It happened more often than not; he shouldn't have overlooked it. Apparently, some kid had put up a fake party, just to annoy the goat-man.

In truth, it was rather amusing to see the famed trainer of so many heroes stomping around, belting out streams of curses whenever his precious tournament board didn't add up.

Taking a quick look at the four letters scrawled on the small piece of paper, he froze.

"_Hey, Phil, could you do us a favor? We're not sure when we'd be able to drop in and do a tournament – you know, saving the worlds and all that jazz – so how about leaving a space open for us heroes?"_

"_You mean Junior Her—"_

"_Quiet, you big palooka!"_

"_Of course, kid. Under the usual name?"_

"_Yep! Team S—"_

The trainer shrugged, crumpling the entry form and tossing it over his shoulder into a nearby garbage bin.

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

**A/N**

So this was the first chapter that I wrote of this story. You can probably tell if you look at the other chapters, yes?


	5. Tarzan

_Broken Chains, Forgotten Friends_

_Chapter: Tarzan_

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

Tarzan stared at the items that laid innocently in front of him. It was nothing special, really. Just a dead, brown bush, branches sticking out in all directions, with a small piece of tinfoil underneath, most likely originating from the very camp he was crouching in.

But there was one thing that really caught his attention, made him strain towards those half-forgotten memories that had plagued him ever since he had met Jane and others of his species.

A large butterfly had landed on the bush, and slowly opened its wings, revealing the sky-blue eye patterns that nature had given it.

_A teenager, hair almost-tamed as it was swept back by what must have been incredible speeds, and a gigantic, ear-to-ear grin on his face, looking like he has had the time of his life and—_

_A sweltering jungle, and a boy popping his head out from the water, looking very surprised at the sudden drop and turning to his friends above him and –_

_The same boy, now pouting and glaring at nothing in particular as the young gorilla sits calmly on the trapped boy's back, picking too many bugs out of his hair for his companions liking and—_

Suddenly, the butterfly flew away, the tinfoil was blown into another part of the camp and a few more leaves fell off the wilting plant.

And Tarzan blinked, and all he saw was a bush.

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

**A/N**

Tarzan's point of view, of course, and the weird bush thingie is supposed to be Sora's hair, the tinfoil is his crown necklace (_is_ there tinfoil in the Tarzan world?), and the butterfly's wings are his eyes, of course. Anyway, typed this up in about 10 minutes, after thinking about it for the last few days. I'm weird that way.


	6. Cid

_Broken Chains, Forgotten Friends_

_Chapter: Cid_

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

Various grunts and curses could be heard coming form a large box, as Cid dug around its contents, searching for something that apparently wasn't there. Finally fed up with his futile search, he looked up in time to see his main suspect enter the Small House, her back to him as she silently closed the door.

"YUFFIE!"

The ninja in question jumped guiltily, before catching herself and grinning at the fuming mechanic instead. "Yep?"

His voice was a dangerously low rumble, one that threatened that wrenches would fly soon. "_Where_ are my Gummi blueprints?"

She blinked, badly feigning innocence, and shrugged. "I dunno."

"_Yuffie…_"

Realizing that she may be in deeper dung than she thought, she happily gave up, skipping back out the door. "But I bet the Moogles would know!"

"DAMMIT, YUFFIE!"

Moments later, a foul-tempered Cid slammed open the door to the item synthesis workshop, eliciting a startled "Kupo!" from many of the Moogles gathered there, and stomped towards an ill-hidden box on top of the fireplace. Snatching it up, he grumpily exited again, and stamped towards the hidden niche beside the entrance to the Synthesis Workshop.

Growling, he dumped the blueprints on the ground, finally able to locate the blueprint he had searched for, and began to collect the rest. However, one of them slipped from his grasp, and he bent down to pick it up with a halfhearted swear.

Examining it, he scoffed at the countless unnecessary add-ons that littered the body of the ship. Grabbing a pen from his belt, he glanced at the title of the Gummi ship as he placed the tip on the paper, ready to scratch out the location of several accessories.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

_The boy looked proudly upon his creation, ignoring the oil smeared all over his hands and face, as he surveyed the gigantic Gummi ship he had built from scratch. Spray-painted a haphazard mix of gold, white, and blue, it stood out from all the other ships parked in the Gummi garage. And though it seemed like it shouldn't be able to lift off the ground, it was bristling with firepower, as well as the most powerful engines that Cid had ever laid his eyes on. _

_Turning to his foul-mouthed tutor, the spiky-haired boy grinned at the old mechanic's awestruck expression, before yelping as Cid grabbed him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "Can't help the flair, eh? You'd better not smash it against the first comet you find, y'hear?"_

_The boy laughed, glad that the old man was, if nothing else, impressed by the product of so much work. _

"_So it's good?"_

"_It'll fly. What'cha gonna name 'er?"_

_He grinned, a slight trace of sadness in the expression. "How about this. There was a raft my friends and I built to see other worlds, but…"_

_He turned back to the gleaming ship. "I'm gonna call it The –"_

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Cid lifted his pen, deciding that the blueprint might come in handy some other day. He rolled up the blueprint to _The Highwind_, and locked it, along with his other blueprints, in the safe in the corner.

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O

**A/N**

Not as clear for the forgetting-ness as some of the other chapters, yeah, but still. I wanted to show that Cid doesn't really remember Sora, but somehow knows that the blueprint is special to him, and doesn't want to throw it away. And the safe is that little blue safe with that unnecessarily large keyhole on it, remember? I've been feeling really useless all day, so I decided to finish this little idea that I had for the next chapter. Two chapters in one day? –shakes head- I'm too nice. But I'm gonna be pathetically busy for the rest of the week, so there.

By the way, why do moogles always say "KUPO!" after every sentence? Could it be that "kupo" is actually a fairly offensive term in Moogle-ese?

Read and review, please? –Hold out Author's Begging Can Version 2-

-Glares at Scythereal Angel for stealing her original Can-


	7. Cloud

Broken Chains, Forgotten Friends

_Summary: "And they all slowly forget the one who saved them." Oneshots from the PoVs of KH1 characters, as Sora's memories are being rechained._

_Chapter: Cloud_

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

The sandy arena of the Olympus Coliseum stood empty, bare but for one soul sitting at the top of the bleachers.

Cloud sat completely still, staring at his hands as they rested on his knees, moonlight glinting off of the metal claw and into his light blue eyes. He didn't shift, however, too deeply absorbed in thought to notice.

There was something flitting in and out of the edges of his memories, something or someone he knew he should remember, but was failing to produce an image or a name.

Only one memory kept the person from being completely forgotten, but it seemed to flicker in and out of his consciousness, like the stars in the sky.

* * *

"Come ON, Cloud, you promised me a rematch!" 

"….Maybe."

"You KNOW you did!"

"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."

"Stop saying that, you told me you'd have a 'fair and square match,' remember?"

"Not really."

"Yes, you do! It was right after I beat Cerberus! You know, gigantic three-headed dog from the Underworld? Ringing any bells?"

"I see a lot of dogs."

Glare. Sigh. Change of strategy. "_Well_, I guess you're too _chicken_ to fight me, so I guess I'll come back _later_, then."

That did it. Icy blue eyes snapped open and slowly traveled up to the young boy's face, which was starting to show regret at his un-thought out choice of words.

"Think you can lose in one match, or do you want two out of three?"

"Sh—Shut up! One match! And I'm gonna win it!"

"…Whatever."

With that, Cloud slowly stood up, and began walking to the open gates of the Coliseum.

"All right then, let's mosey."

Luckily, he had walked past the spiky-haired brunette before he could see the shocked and disgusted look on the young boy's face at hearing such an…. unmasculine phrase coming from the cold warrior.

…..

Shifting into his battle stance, Cloud smirked as he studied the teenager in front of him.

"You've got heart, kid."

He was, however, caught off guard by the reply the boy, his face suddenly contemplative, shot back.

"And you still have yours, Cloud."

His breath caught in his throat, and he froze, completely unprepared for having all of his fears and uncertainties addressed and then instantly swept away.

He blinked, and suddenly realized that the brunette had already rushed toward him, his sword raised to strike, shouting out a fierce "HA!", and the blond SOLDIER reacted instinctively.

Once he regained his senses a moment later, he saw that he had knocked the boy across the arena, and growled at himself in frustration, angry at how he had been caught unawares by a teenager, a child.

Coming over to check on the boy, he saw that he was already beginning to drag himself to his feet, before readying himself in a shaky stance, still obviously dazed from his temporary flight. Nevertheless, the boy was prepared to fight again, and the very corner of Cloud's mouth began to unnoticeably twitch, before he turned around and began walking out of the arena.

He paused, however, at the annoyed cry behind him.

"Hey! Where do you think you're going?"

"….Dunno. Gonna explore the worlds."

"But…. But what about our match?!"

A barely-audible chuckle escaped from the red-caped man, as he replied, "You may just be stronger than I thought."

"Huh…? But we've still got to fight!"

"Later, kid."

"But—"

"Make sure you're stronger next time."

And with that, the boy plopped down on the ground, scowling at the retreating back before he grumpily replied.

"Later, Cloud."

"See you next time, Sor—"

* * *

Cloud suddenly blinked, before glancing around, getting up with a protest from his long-unmoved joints, and began walking towards the exit. 

Far up above, another star blinked out.

O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o – O – o - O

**A/N**

Before you ask, Cloud actually DID say "Let's mosey, men" in Final Fantasy VII. To which Cid intellectually replied "$#17! Again! Say something more manly, like 'Move out!'"

And I LOVE the conversation in the beginning. I just like imagining Cloud replying to hyperactive!Sora with this dead, monotone voice. Because he would.

And yes. I did overdose on Advent Children before writing this.

Reviews are love! And they shall keep me warm during my lacrosse camp, during which I shall be removed from the computer for THREE WHOLE DAYS. However shall I survive?!


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